Choosing a Tax Preparer

Easy Tax Time And Still Worth The Fees For Us! ~H&R Block~

Pros: Close by, friendly service, our refunds got better!
Cons: High fees.

NO PANIC, NO HASSLE!

I’ve filed jointly with my husband for years. We have a complicated business and lot of money is given in cash so it used to be huge hassle to get all the tax forms filled properly. When we lived in New Jersey we had an independent pro who specialized in the profession we are in. I remember it was always very complicated to figure out what to file even with both of us in the office and answering a lot of questions. Our refunds were not huge and we paid him at least $150 every year.

After moving to PA first year we used the same preparer and just did lot of faxing and mailing and it was even a bigger hassle. And in the end we waited for our return for almost a month, much longer than expected, I still don’t know why it took so long.

HOW MAY I HELP YOU?

We live in a relatively small town and three years ago I was recommended by another person in the same profession as us just to go to local H&R Block and they will keep everything in file for us. I was quite doubtful they would know how to get all the refunds for us. There was not a very good alternative as close as H&R Block so when the deadline was looming we ended up marching into the office.

The lady who greeted us was very nice and to our surprise very up-to-date about our field and what to file and how. That first year it did take us almost two hours to go through everything in the office, but in the end I was a very happy customer! There was some refunds that our previous so called “pro” never even mentioned about!

I can’t remember how much we paid but the refund was in our bank account in 10 business days as promised. Following year we had all the forms needed early on and visit to the H&R was totally easy trip. Same lady did our taxes again and treated us like old friends. We had some complicated issues on our assets at the time but thankfully the person we shared an ownership of a pretty successful racehorse was also H&R Block customer and everything got filed properly without the hassle we went through previously in the same situation.

This year our taxes got done without any complications at all. We had the appointment the next day after calling and everything was done in about 45 minutes.

The fee for the Federal Tax Preparation for us jointly was $246 and State and Local Tax Preparation $44, they took $20 away from the fees with a coupon from previous year. So our fee jointly came up to $270 and we will have our refund deposited into the bank account as a direct deposit.

COSTLY?

Is $270 a lot to pay for tax preparation? Yes, it is quite high amount. But to us it was worth it. We’ve been having very friendly and professional tax pro and I love the fact that they do have copies of everything in file just in case I need it and to make it easier to file net year.

The office is 10 minutes away from our house, actually closer than our grocery store. It is open year around which is great to know.

So yes, I GOT PEOPLE!

The Bottom Line:
If your taxes are really simple to do look elsewhere, for more complicated tax forms their services has met our expectations.

Recommended:
Yes

Amount Paid (US$): 270